Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Homeschool: God's Order for Education

2 Peter 1:5-7 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.



I attended a home-school graduation where the mother of the graduate spoke and told us how these verses were their key verses for the home-schooling years. She explained that foundational to all, we need to teach our children to have saving faith in God. Secondly, we need to teach them virtue (good character) and then knowledge (academics). If we make academics the most important thing, then we miss the boat.




It's so easy to get caught up in the school work and not focus on the other enough. I was telling my husband about how I was feeling the need to try to work our son back into a particular curriculum for math because it teaches the math concepts that I don't know. The other curriculum I had been considering states up front that I would need to teach it before he does the work and I didn’t see where they had anything that would teach it to me first. I told my husband that I was concerned about transitioning him back into the other program because he gets so upset when the program marks him wrong on certain types of problems. I suggested maybe just skipping those so I wouldn't have to deal with his attitude. My husband reminded me that this is a character issue and it needs to be dealt with.




I am beginning to realize that instead of avoiding those activities that precipitate bad attitudes, I need to ask God for wisdom in how to deal with the underlying character problem. I need to pray fervently for him to come to saving faith in Christ and work on helping him correct his character issues.




Are there areas of schoolwork that you avoid with your children because they get upset and have an attitude about it? Have you asked God to help you identify the character issue at hand that need to be dealt with? Does your child have saving faith in Christ? Set aside time today to pray about his/her salvation and begin to work on your child's character with His help and wisdom.

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